Planetsave

Today at Planetsave, we’ll let the BBC teach you how to run your vehicle on chip (that’s french fry to us) oil. Restaurants, bars and fast food joints normally send their oil to the landfill, now you can convert it to fuel your wheels. From the article:

Dan Purkis, a consultant engineer, puts home-brewed fuel into the tanks of his 4×4, even though he is based in Aberdeen - the oil capital of the UK.

He admits that messing about with old chip fat is not for everyone but adds: “It’s interesting and fun and it reduces my impact on the environment?

“When I looked at my lifestyle I realised that fuel was the greatest energy user in my life.”

You can buy conversion kits from £700 but Mr Purkis has made his own.

He told the BBC’s You and Yours programme: “No special tools were required and nothing was beyond the ability of a typical DIY enthusiast. Most of the parts were bought second hand or salvaged from scrap yards.

“I recycle used vegetable oil from a local hotel. They throw away between 50 and 100 litres a week which would otherwise go to landfill.”

Once he gets it home, he puts the oil through a series of refinements:

• Allows sediment in the oil to settle to the bottom of the bottle
• Pumps and filters the top 70% of the oil; it is pure enough to put straight into his car
• Treats the remaining sludge and converts it into biodiesel by adding methanol and caustic soda
• Heats the oil, causing it to react with the caustic soda

The waste product from this process is glycerin, which has to be washed out of the biodiesel with soap and half-water to half-fuel. He then composts the glycerin. Mr Purkis says his car runs better on biodiesel: “It’s smoother - better lubricated.”

Even though he is a qualified engineer, he insists that it is not a difficult process.

• » See also: An Ocean of Effort
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